If there was ever a major divide between generations in our society, it is the division caused by the cellular telephone. If anything could convince seniors that the world is passing them by, it is the prospect of getting carpal tunnel thumb from texting.
You think: Good God, why not talk to the person? Why is texting taking over from talking? You would swear that people developed texting so that they could still make out in bars where you are unable to hear a damn thing. And why do they put a poor quality camera on this cell phone when I have a perfectly good digital camera? Is it so the news media will no longer need photographers or professional camera operators? People with cell phones must do the crime scene photos and recordings for free.
Have we reached some point in human evolution that we believe we do not need direct contact with other people? The human race is never going to continue this way.
Is texting making it easier for us to send our tweets to Twitter? And as for facebook, any senior knows that if we think we have more than five friends, we are deluding ourselves.
Frankly, this whole social media business must be for pre-adolescents. Later in life they will learn that nothing will ever replace the wonder of looking into the eyes of someone to whom you are sexually attracted over a cooling cup of coffee.
And as for the loneliness of blogging? Hah. It is still more fun than self abuse. People not only read your musings but it seems there are people out there who count your typos!
But back to cell phones. We hear that Canadians think they pay too much for their cell phone. If you think that, then stop using it every ten seconds of the day.
Having recently ended a three-year contract for $25 per month, in favour of just $15 per month, it can be noted that it need not be all that expensive. The grandsons have been told that Grandpa’s cell is in a ‘no text’ zone. They have also been told that cells are for emergencies only. If you want to talk to Grandpa, he is always delighted to talk on his land line. You can talk for hours there at no additional cost.
You still shake your head when you hear that there are people who forego the delights of land lines, in favour of only using a cell. The last operational vestige of our civilization is the land line that is connected through a 24-volt direct current from a central office to your household. It is a priceless life line that saves lives in many disasters.
Conversely, cells fail. You forgot to charge your battery. Power lines are down. There are too many causes of cell failure.
And you can still refuse to walk around with a thing stuck in your ear and talking to yourself. It is neither dignified nor do people give a damn about your side of the conversation. Just leave a message on our land line. We will get back to you.
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